The incentives for marketing to automate its operations for more efficiency and effectiveness have never been greater. Technology has particular relevance for one of marketing’s most important processes: lead nurturing. Yet the technology options are complex and confusing. In this report, we untangle the complexity of marketing automation and offer valuable advice based on analysis and results from ITSMA’s exclusive survey of marketing IT strategy, best practices, challenges, and ROI from top marketing decision makers.

Key Takeaways

• Few marketers think of themselves as leading-edge practitioners of technology
• Marketing leaders hold the purse strings for technology, but most lack a technology strategy
• The relationship between marketing and IT needs work
• There is a positive correlation between the level of automation and the degree of proficiency in marketing processes
• Cost- and competitive-based arguments garner support for automation projects
• Few marketers have centralized systems for marketing automation

Study Methodology

• Online Web-based survey
• Survey invitations were emailed during August 2008 to ITSMA member companies
• 23 representatives from 22 companies responded
  • Number of companies invited to participate: 91
  • Number of companies responded: 22
  • Response rate: 24%
• ITSMA analyzed the data by:
  • Company type (sells products and services or primarily services)
  • Annual services revenue (<$500M or $500M+)

Respondent Demographics

Industry

• Sells products and services (61%)
• Sells primarily services (39%)

Size

• Greater than $500M (78%)
• Less than $500M (22%)

This report is available free to companies that provided detailed data in the study.
Agilent Technologies BearingPoint Capgemini CSC Diebold EDS Fujitsu General Dynamics HCL IBM Infosys Intel Logica Nokia Oracle Orange Business Services Pitney Bowes Polycom Raya Integration Sun Microsystems Utimaco Safeware Xerox
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